


Oh, My Love, Don't Forget Me

by HowlingWolf24



Category: Timekeeper Series - Tara Sim
Genre: Angst, But also, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Post canon, Romance, it gets happy!, so much damn fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-23 17:55:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17688125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HowlingWolf24/pseuds/HowlingWolf24
Summary: Colton told Danny he would choose him— and he would. Every day, every minute, every life until he was sure his answer could be heard from the stars, far enough Aetas himself would hear.





	Oh, My Love, Don't Forget Me

**Author's Note:**

> tumblr - [bowansparrow.tumblr.com](https://bowansparrow.tumblr.com/)

There are times Colton forgets he’s human. Danny finds him holding back sobs in case the time within Enfield starts to run too fast, or glancing nervously up at the sky when Danny places a hand on his, as if the sun will start sinking and rising rapidly through the clouds. He’ll forget to eat, forget that sleep is normal— he was human once before, but his time as a clock spirit is not forgotten, can never be forgotten.  
  
Then there are the too real reminders that he is human, when he wakes up at Danny’s side screaming and whimpering, a hand at his neck as though to stop the blood from flowing onto those bronze, bronze cogs that glinted in the sun, so innocent yet in his dreams they looked like skeletons.  
  
He wakes up one night, whispering Castor’s name but seeing Danny above him, dark hair and green eyes that shine in the darkness of their bedroom. Danny is still asleep beside him, his hair curling over his forehead. Colton wants to brush it away and he does, letting his fingers trail over the smooth skin of Danny’s cheek. It’s strange sometimes, when he sees his own hands, his own legs, and they’re pale— not bronze, not glowing like they have been for so long. Yet other times, he can’t imagine them being any different.  
  
Danny’s eyes open, jade in the light of the moon in the window. Colton’s hand doesn’t stop, and neither of them say anything, just staring at each other. Words have already been said. Lives have already been spent, waiting, wanting this as they are now.  
  
He leans down and presses his lips to Danny’s, stealing his breath and kissing him like this is still new, new enough where Colton has to remember his own breath is being stolen away too. Danny’s hands are on his stomach, steadily trailing lower and though Colton feels that ache rising, that longing that he is both familiar and unfamiliar with, he pulls away and gasps for breath.  
  
There’s a touch on his shoulders, the only warning to guide him down before Danny rolls so he’s on top, bare skin touching bare skin. It’s cold outside but here, in the barrier to the world they’ve created, Colton feels warm, and warmer than can possibly be just because of the proximity of their bodies.  
  
“Hey,” Danny says, his voice a soft whisper in the stillness of the night. He’s holding himself on on his elbows, cradled on either side of Colton’s head and Colton wants nothing more than to pull him back down but he can’t help but be reminded of his dream.  
  
“Hey,” he says back, unsure of how to answer otherwise. What do you say to the man you love, when you can’t help but be reminded of one from another lifetime? Colton told Danny he would choose him— and he would. Every day, every minute, every life until he was sure his answer could be heard from the stars, far enough Aetas himself would hear.  
  
“What’s wrong?” Danny asks. It’s a question, but it doesn’t feel like one. Colton wants to say it’s nothing, go back to kissing. But he would know. He always knew.  
  
Colton can’t bring himself to look Danny in the eyes— those green, green emeralds— when he says softly, “Just another…” Dream? Illusion? What do you call a dream where your mind decides to conjure your love of another life? “Nightmare.”  
  
A thin hand runs through Colton’s hair and his eyes close as he feels the soft touch thread its way in the golden— no, his hair is brown now. He’s no longer the bronze and gold of Enfield’s Colton Tower. He isn’t the bronze, or the gold, or the red of blood that he can feel trickling down his throat—  
  
Like he can feel the blood flooding his lungs, Colton coughs violently and claps a hand to his mouth, nearly throwing Danny off. He knows there’s nothing on his hand, but he can’t bring himself to look at it when it’s drawn away. Danny looks more concerned now.  
  
“Colton, are you—”  
  
“I’m fine,” Colton answers. But he’s not fine. Sometimes he’s never fine, but dawn probably isn’t too far off and it’s much easier to hide his shadowed thoughts and darkened dreams when the light burns them away.  
  
Danny doesn’t look convinced. Colton can’t bring himself to be annoyed about that. “It was about the tower wasn’t it.”  
  
He swallows. “Of course it was about the tower,” he finds himself saying. “The bloody, _bloody_ tower. It’s always about the bloody tower.” _No,_ Colton thinks, but does not add. _It was about another boy, from another lifetime._  
  
There’s no answer, at least not at first. They don’t have any clocks within their bedroom because neither of them could stand the ticking sounds while they slept with each other— like one simple act would cause them to tick faster, tick louder, _tick, tick, **tick.**_  
  
Lips brush against his collarbone and Colton jumps. Hair tickles his shoulder. He hadn’t even realized Danny was leaning down, though now he feels the press of Danny’s head against his chest. Danny once told him he would never tire of his heart beating. Colton didn’t think he would tire of it either.  
  
“Sometimes I wonder if it was a good idea for them to rebuild it.”  
  
Colton wasn’t around when they did. He remembers a lot, but he doesn’t know where he went before Aetas brought him back. That time is suspiciously empty. The tower was gone when he last remembered it, clutching the central cog as he faded… The first time he died there was no tower either.  
  
“I don’t know,” Colton says. “I… I used to love that tower. As much as I resented it at least, for keeping me confined there. When I found out it was my tomb…”  
  
All his love for the tower had been lost.  
  
He had a feeling Danny knew what he meant too, and it was confirmed when a hand trailed down his arm to intertwine their fingers.  
Silence followed afterwards, long enough Colton thought Danny might have fallen asleep. He was content to leave it at that, at the tower, at the death both of them had to experience.  
  
But Danny’s voice came again, softer this time. “It wasn’t about the tower, love. I know what it’s like when you dream of the tower.”  
  
He means the screaming. The gasping. The outstretched hand reaching towards—  
  
Colton lets out a long breath. If he tries hard enough, Danny might think he’s fallen asleep again and won’t ask—  
  
“It was about Castor,” Danny says quietly, pushing himself up again. “Wasn’t it.”  
  
Colton can’t find it in him to answer and Danny sighs, rolling over to the side.  
  
“I don’t blame you, Colton. And I don’t hate you for thinking of him.”  
  
_You should,_ Colton wants to say. Why doesn’t Danny feel as betrayed as Colton does? Why doesn’t he want to blame him, yell at him, feel like Colton is unfaithful, unworthy, that he loves someone else?  
  
“Why?” he asks instead.  
  
“Because you chose me.”  
  
It’s a simple answer, yet it fills Colton with a warmth he wasn’t expecting. Danny’s hand lays loosely over his stomach, thumb trailing over his hip, his ribs, then finally stopping over top his heart. His fingers curl, just slightly, enough that Colton can feel the light press of his fingertips. It grounds him when he feels as light as air.  
  
Eventually Danny falls back asleep, yet Colton only continues to look up at the ceiling of their shared bedroom, at the space they’ve claimed for their own. Aetas himself did hear, across memories and time, and that’s why he’s here, with Danny, with the boy he loves so much it makes his heart ache.  
  
It’s a good ache though.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from [What the Water Gave Me](https://youtu.be/43rjC8h10Jo) by Florence and the Machine cause I was trying to find a really dramatic™ title and realized that the song reflected quite a few themes within the Timekeeper trilogy
> 
> This is the first fic I've done (or rather published since I started one a while ago but never finished it) and after the tragedy that is that this fandom only has 6 fics, I had to contribute
> 
> Find me on my Tumblr!! I'd love to do more Timekeeper fics so please give me some prompts or ideas! Or just talk to me about Timekeeper or legit anything else because I love making new friends
> 
>  
> 
> [bowansparrow.tumblr.com](https://bowansparrow.tumblr.com/)


End file.
